Dover 7-year-old has had 500 straight days of chemo treatments, another year to go

Second-grader Von Kleiv, 7, performs during a karate demonstration at the Laps for Lymphoma 2 fundraiser at Major George S. Welch Elementary School on Dover Air Force Base.
Jason Minto/The News Journal/USA TODAY

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Second-grader Von Kleiv, 7, holds the boards that he broke during a karate demonstration at Laps For Lymphoma fundraiser at Major George S. Welch Elementary School on Dover Air Force Base. Von was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2016.(Photo: Jason Minto/The News Journal)Buy Photo

With his left foot behind him, anchored solidly in the lush grass, and his right knee slightly bent, 7-year-old Von Kleiv raised his arms into the air and balled his hands into fists.

The Welch Elementary School student was about to break his first wooden board using nothing but his bare hands. His mom and dad, Lt. Col. Dain Kliev and Gina Kliev, sat on the sidelines of the Dover Air Force Base football field watching expectantly, hands clenched into fists of their own.

Second-grader Von Kleiv, 7, breaks his first boards during a karate demonstration at Laps For Lymphoma fundraiser at Major George S. Welch Elementary School on Dover Air Force Base. Von was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2016.(Photo: Jason Minto, The News Journal)

The moment was symbolic for the family in more ways than one.

A year ago, Von could barely stand, Gina Kleiv said. Six months ago, he was barely strong enough to curl his fingers around his thumbs, let alone bunny hop or back kick.

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Second-grader Von Kleiv, 7, performs during a karate demonstration at Laps For Lymphoma fundraiser at Major George S. Welch Elementary School on Dover Air Force Base. Von was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2016.(Photo: Jason Minto, The News Journal)

Von was bald and chemotherapy had badly damaged his nerves, making it hard to feel his fingers and toes. He couldn't go to school or play with his friends or even take karate lessons.

That's what daily doses of strong, cancer-killing drugs do to the body — they weaken it, Gina Kleiv said. More than 500 straight days of chemo have helped knock back Von's cancer, but have also left him with nausea, hair loss and muscle pain.

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Second-grader Von Kleiv, 7, with his broken boards that he broke during a karate demonstration at Laps For Lymphoma fundraiser at Major George S. Welch Elementary School on Dover Air Force Base. Von was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2016.(Photo: Jason Minto, The News Journal)

"And Von still has an entire year of chemo to go," she said.

Yet Von — whose alter ego is Voninja: The Lymphoma Ninja Warrior — has taken it all in stride. When he was diagnosed with t-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma in May 2016, the kindergartner proudly told nurses that he was going to fight off the cancer.

"I'm going to kick lymphoma's butt!" he said.

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Second-grader Von Kleiv, 7, talks with his mother, Gina, after breaking his first boards during a karate demonstration at Laps For Lymphoma fundraiser at Major George S. Welch Elementary School on Dover Air Force Base. Von was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2016.(Photo: Jason Minto, The News Journal)

The disease is relatively rare, accounting for 2 percent of all non-Hodgkin lymphomas, which are usually diagnosed at advanced stages and require aggressive treatment to cure.

Hodgkin lymphomas, in comparison, are marked by the presence of mature B cells, called Reed-Sternberg cells, and progress in an orderly fashion, moving from one group of lymph nodes to the next, making it easier to detect and treat.

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Second-grader Von Kleiv, 7, performs during a karate demonstration at Laps For Lymphoma fundraiser at Major George S. Welch Elementary School on Dover Air Force Base. Von was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2016.(Photo: Jason Minto, The News Journal)

By the time it was discovered, Von's lymphoma had progressed far enough to warrant immediate hospitalization, Gina Kliev said. He celebrated his kindergarten graduation outside the oncology ward on the third floor of A.I. DuPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington.

His family was stunned by the sudden turn of events.

“It absolutely turned our world upside down because we weren’t expecting anything like cancer at all," Gina Kliev said. "This kid was young and active, had perfect attendance in school ... that doesn’t cross your mind.”

During first grade, Von couldn't attend school at all thanks to what his father, Dain Kliev, called a "brutal" but necessary treatment plan.

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Second-grader Von Kleiv, 7, celebrates after breaking his first boards during a karate demonstration at Laps For Lymphoma fundraiser at Major George S. Welch Elementary School on Dover Air Force Base. Von was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2016.(Photo: Jason Minto, The News Journal)

He is in school now, but his parents said he could take a turn at pretty much any moment, depending on how his body continues to respond to the chemotherapy.

Gina Kliev said t-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma has a 95 percent cure rate, but Von is still at risk of future cancer and, as a result of so much chemotherapy, heart problems. He will be dealing with effects of the disease for years, if not the rest of his life.

"He's very humble with what he's been able to get through and achieve and all the hospital stays that he's had," Dain Kliev said. "He's amazed me with how resilient he's been, getting through all the procedures, a whole lot of surgeries."

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2nd grader Von Kleiv (7) performs during a karate demonstration at Laps For Lymphoma fundraiser at Major George S. Welch Elementary School on Dover Air Force Base. Von was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2016.(Photo: Jason Minto, The News Journal)

Laps for lymphoma

For the past two years, Welch Elementary School, located on the Dover Air Force Base, has shown its support for Von by holding Laps for Lymphoma, a fundraiser for St. Baldrick's Childhood Cancer Research Foundation.

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Second-grader Von Kleiv, 7, who was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2016 lines up to walk two laps at Laps For Lymphoma fundraiser at Major George S. Welch Elementary School on Dover Air Force Base.(Photo: Jason Minto, The News Journal)

Last year, the Welch Elementary community donated $20,000 to cancer research. Donations for Laps for Lymphoma 2, which was celebrated with a schoolwide event Sept. 21, are being accepted through Sept. 29 at www.stbaldricks.org/fundraisers/lapsforlymphoma2.

Welch Elementary School Principal Jason Payne told his students earlier this month that September is both Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and Lymphoma Awareness Month.

Von was welcomed on stage during a school assembly with his 11-year-old sister Lily, who is a 6th-grader at Dover Air Base Middle School and takes lessons with him at Kaizen Karate Academy in Dover.

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Second-grader Von Kleiv, 7, performs during a karate demonstration at Laps For Lymphoma fundraiser at Major George S. Welch Elementary School on Dover Air Force Base. Von was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2016.(Photo: Jason Minto, The News Journal)

Lily said her brother earns a bead for every needle poke, surgery, chemo treatment and blood transfusion. He has 1,174 beads in a chain that is over 42 feet long.

"Von just happens to be the face of this," Dain Kleiv said of the school's fundraising efforts, stressing Payne's involvement and giving the principal credit for raising so much money for cancer research.

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Gina and Dain Kleiv, parents of second-grader Von Kleiv, 7, who was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2016 address the attendees at Laps For Lymphoma fundraiser at Major George S. Welch Elementary School on Dover Air Force Base.(Photo: Jason Minto, The News Journal)

The family, which also includes 19-year-old Sam, 15-year-old Jack and 13-year-old Riley, said St. Baldrick's is their foundation of choice because they exclusively research childhood cancers.

"That's part of the reason why we support Welch and their fundraising efforts for St. Baldrick's," Gina Kliev said. "Our wish and the reason why we support it so much is we don't want any other family to go through what we've had to go through, and for these kids, this treatment's brutal. It's absolutely brutal."

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Second-grader Von Kleiv, 7, who was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2016 walks two laps with his supporters at Laps For Lymphoma fundraiser at Major George S. Welch Elementary School on Dover Air Force Base.(Photo: Jason Minto, The News Journal)

Contact Jessica Bies at (302) 324-2881 or jbies@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @jessicajbies. Looking for more education news? Visit delawareonline.com/education.